Motherhood: Month 8

Practicing Happy Baby pose 

Oh my, the last two weeks have brought so many changes! Aside from the COVID-19 virus turning the entire world upside down, I mean. I’ve been working from home and enjoying my time spent with Quinn, despite the circumstances for it. He’s army crawling like a champ, still not getting his knees up but not letting that slow him down. Of course my kid becomes mobile at the beginning of a pandemic that requires staying home 🤦🏻‍♀️. I would’ve been okay with another week of him sitting happily in his bouncer while I tried to get things done 🤷🏻‍♀️. Instead I’m constantly pulling him away from the dog bowls. He has no qualms about where he puts his mouth, whether that involves licking a dog toy or mopping the floor with his tongue 🤮. When your kid starts crawling, especially a crawl that is more of a full body drag, you find out just how clean your floors are(‘nt). Trying to keep up with the muddy paw prints being dragged in by the girls before Quinn tracks through them is a full time job. It’s insane. By the end of the day he has really earned his bath 😂. He has graduated to using just his tub (inside of the bathtub) without the seat because he can fully sit up on his own. This gives him lots more room to splash and play. Giving him a bath now requires a new commitment to the fact that you’re going to get wet. It’s like bathing the dogs, just accept that it’s going to happen going in. After eight and a half months you would think that I could use an appropriate amount of shampoo for him but I don’t. My hair is so long and requires more soap than most and I forget that his head and hair are tiny. 

It’s nice being able to sit him down without worrying about him falling over. Unless he wants to, of course. Sometimes he leans too far and face plants. I tell him not to lead with his head but he hasn’t learned that lesson just yet. He has even started in the last couple of days being able to sit up from laying down. It’s a process that involves either rolling to his side and pushing up with his hands (from his back) or tucking his knees under him, sitting back toward his heels, and pushing up (from his belly). 

🤦🏻‍♀️  This was just the mesh on his playpen but have you ever licked a screen door screen? That’s not a taste you ever forget 🤪. 

I had to give him his own bowl so I could take the dog bowls away 🙄. 

I was doing dishes and turned around the see this 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️  I had even moved the girls’ dishes into the living room, away from him. He LOVES spilling their water all over the floor. 

He is everywhere now and it’s amazing how quickly he can go doing an army crawl! Once he decides he wants to lick something, he’s off! He scared the crap out of me the other day because I forgot the basement door was open and he got over to the stairs. Luckily he stopped but it could’ve been so bad! Note to self: basement door stays closed now! 

Coming to get me in the bathroom when I went to wash my hands after changing his diaper. 

Trying to go outside to get my shoe 🤦🏻‍♀️

He thought the vent was so funny 🤷🏻‍♀️  

He got his first and second tooth within days of each other and now everything is a chew toy. He’s all about his tongue. Well, everyone’s tongue, really. He likes sticking his hands in our mouths to feel our teeth. He even tried grabbing my tongue and putting it in his mouth 😂😂.  That was a no-go 🛑.

His teethers 😃

All this crawling required baby proofing so I had to order some outlet plugs. Cabinet latches will be next. 

He’s such a funny kid. I know the days that his teeth were bothering him just because he isn’t his usual giggly self. I think he’s entered his separation anxiety stage because he doesn’t want to play more than a few inches away from me and even then he often reaches back to touch my leg. Sometimes he wants me to pick him up. Sometimes he lays his head on my chest for a cuddle. But then sometimes he pinches my throat 🤏🏻🤬. You never know what you’re going to get. That especially hurts when he needs his nails cut. He never used to fight me about it but now he tries to take the clippers out of my hand as I’m doing it so that he can chew on them 🤦🏻‍♀️. While most businesses are closed, I’m not able to take the girls to get their nails cut and they need it badly. I have clippers but they’re worse than Quinn about fighting me. I’m thinking of sedating Sophie to cut hers. Okay, I’m kidding. Only because I don’t have sedatives 🤷🏻‍♀️🤪. 

When you want Mom to hold you while she’s pumping so she can’t, but you still need someone’s hair to go to sleep, you improvise 😂. 

Speaking of getting tired, Quinn has this thing where he gets super tired and sometimes even passes out but then he wakes back up a few minutes later and has the sleepy giggles. Literally EVERYTHING you do is hilarious. I know this will be a bad habit in the future but it’s so hard not to laugh with him when he’s like this. We try to keep a straight face to keep him calm but we never win and end up joining in the fun. He’s a nut. I can’t say how grateful I am to have such a pleasant child (most of the time). He really is a joy to have around, especially right now when I’m at home. 

Sooo sleepy and sooo happy 😆 

I shared a meme on Facebook that said, “You’re not stuck at home, you’re safe at home.” That couldn’t be more true. I had to go to Walmart today, the day after learning of the first confirmed case of the virus in our county. It’s a scary time as the cases are expected to peak in the next two weeks. I can’t imagine the horror of Quinn getting sick or one of us. Please, please stay home if you’re able and stay safe! I’ve been trying to limit my time on social media the last couple of days because constantly reading about new cases is overwhelming. It’s weird though because social media is the only way to stay connected to people now that we’re all (supposed to be) practicing social distancing so it almost gives you FOMO. In this alternative world, I hope we’re remembering what’s important again. For Philip, his life has barely changed other than weekends are spent at home instead of the typical outing to go shopping one of the days. My life has changed drastically and this social isolation may take a toll on my mental health as this virus rages on. For now I’m keeping myself busy (chasing a baby around, literally!) by deep cleaning and making toys for Quinn, along with just spending time with him. I keep trying to teach him to say “mama” more regularly but “dada” seems to be his favorite at the moment 🙄🙄🙄. He really loves to say it when he’s mad though and that cracks me up 😉. Our standards have temporarily changed as life is slowing down for those of us at home. Happiness can come from simply being able to find green beans at Wal-Mart, something we all took for granted before. Maybe not green beans, specifically, but being able to get what we need when we need it. If you know a truck driver, thank them. Wal-mart workers, too, and healthcare workers, and anyone else still working to help keep what little normalcy is left while putting themselves in danger! I’ve gotta say though, going to Wal-mart makes me super nervous. Like, you don’t want to cough or sneeze while you’re there and have people think you’re sick. That could incite a riot 😳. So you try to hold it in but it’s like when you’re at the dentist and they have their hands in your mouth and you try not to swallow but all you can think about is how you need to swallow. It was like that for me. My allergies are really bad right now but I couldn’t risk coughing while I was there. But then trying to hurry so I could get to my car to relieve myself of all the drainage in my head made me act like a suspicious weirdo. The whole experience was unsettling. I’m hoping to avoid Wal-Mart for the foreseeable future, it’s too nerve wracking! 😂

I already told you the girls are giving me grief about cutting their nails. They’ve also misplaced their “listening ears” and in true child fashion, don’t typically listen to me until I’m about to lose my shit. If this continues, I may need to socially distance myself from them 🤪. 

If it’s not one kid on me, it’s another 🤦🏻‍♀️  

Sophie isn’t a very good distancer...ever. 

One of Quinn’s favorite pastimes is messing with the girls. I think it’s hilarious because they bug me all the time 🤪. 

She could leave but she chooses not to 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Always following Mama ❤️

Motherhood: Month 7.5

During the last 3 weeks, life with Quinn has become a lot more difficult. We’ve entered the land of bumps and bruises because he’s started “inch-worming” (aka a cute form of crawling) and lunging for anything out of reach, especially my dinner plate 😡. He won’t leave a bib on; I’ll put it on 20 times and he’ll pull it off 21. We had to lower his playpen because he’s pulling on the sides of it now. I took him shopping at the new Gordman’s store last week and let him sit in the cart. That brought a whole new challenge I hadn’t considered, of controlling the extra set of hands that is constantly reaching for anything and everything, especially if it’s easily breakable 😩. He’s learned to dislike the word “no” and threw a tantrum the other day because I wouldn’t let him suck on my toe 😂. Bathing him takes a Herculean effort because he wants to lean forward and dip his face into the water to drink it 🤦🏻‍♀️. He fights sleep like a ninja. I can tuck one of his arms under mine but his free hand can poke your eye, punch you in the throat, and pull your hair all within 8 seconds. He never wants to sit still and wrangling him all day is exhausting. His mouth leaks like a faucet and my hair, face, and clothes are constantly covered in slobber and breast milk. I’ve never loved someone so much but wanted them to go to bed so badly before. 

Stealing his sheet while I was trying to fold it 🤦🏻‍♀️  

Reaching for anything and everything. 

Being super proud of himself for making it all the way across the room 😄. 

Having said all that, he’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. 

I mean, look at his little swirl 😍. 

Although he wears me out, his smile is completely redeeming. He gives me a new purpose and I can’t imagine life without him. I get joy out of buying new toys for him to play with, even though I could probably skip this since his favorites seem to be a red Solo cup and the basket of washcloths in the bathroom 🤷🏻‍♀️😆. Really he likes playing with anything he can get his hands on. If I need to fold laundry I just sit him beside me and give him a sock to chew on. We keep him occupied by showing him how to do stuff we’ll regret showing him very soon, like opening and closing cupboards and blinds. I got him a new bath toy a few weeks ago and it’s supposed to be an octopus but it only has 6 legs. Octo literally means 8. So we call it the hexapus 😉. I also bought a cart cover for the future shopping trips that will soon exclude his carseat. The Gordman’s cart sitting wasn’t planned and only happened because he fussed to get out of his seat and he’s a bit heavy now so he got to sit when my arm got tired of carrying him. I didn’t have his cover with me so we haven’t tried it out yet. There are lots of options out there for covers and call me crazy but I intentionally got one that didn’t include a slot for my phone. Maybe I’ll eat my words in a few months but I don’t intend to let him play with my phone while shopping (or any other time for as long I can!). I want him to be able to do normal things like shopping without the need for an electronic babysitter. I have no judgement for anyone who uses theirs, you do you. However, research shows the rates of depression are high among young children because of the isolating trends our lifestyles have taken. Children aren’t learning to communicate or form relationships properly because technology is so prominent. People in general have less face to face conversations because we spend less time together. I know that he’s only a baby but habits form young. I’m not saying he’ll never have screen time or use our phones, I just don’t want that to be a necessity so early in his life. He rarely watches tv at home. I don’t demand that he not watch it when he’s at his aunts’ houses, who babysit him, we just don’t keep it on for him at home on the regular. Philip sometimes watches movies on the weekends while spending time with Quinn but that’s about all the screen time he gets right now. 

Two weekends ago he started being really fussy and I think he got his first cold. The poor thing was so stuffy and is still alternating between a stuffy and runny nose. He screamed all of that Saturday morning.He would take a drink of milk and then forcefully shove the nipple out of his mouth with his tongue. This went on for almost two hours. I knew he was tired and hungry so it didn’t make sense that he wouldn’t eat. I eventually remembered that I had recently changed some of his bottles to fast flow nipples. I looked and the one he was using had three holes so I put a medium flow nipple on it and he drank the whole bottle and passed out 🤦🏻‍♀️. Lesson learned: don’t change his stuff when he’s sick. He had actually used them a couple of times before that but he wasn’t doing it that day. It’s tough having a sick baby because I felt so bad for him, knowing he was miserable with his stuffy nose and there isn’t much approved for babies without talking to his doctor first. Luckily it didn’t last too long and we was back to his sweet, happy self in a few days. 

My poor sick baby 😩. 

Motherhood is hard. Before we had Quinn I didn’t realize that showering without worrying about someone else was such a luxury. Or that eating hot meals was so nice. I appreciate the help of strangers so much when I’m out and someone offers to put my cart away for me (an older gentleman did this last week and it was so nice of him!) I can put my own cart away, of course, but it’s nice when someone helps make my load a little lighter. Like Chris, who came to my house to watch Quinn this week when I needed someone. He loves her so much, I’m sure they had a fun (and exhausting 😂) day together! Or like Kim, who always seems to come to my rescue when I need her. I’m lucky to have so many people who support me! I’m celebrating two years with my yoga business and my customers/friends are the best! Valerie and Stephanie from my Wednesday night class surprised me with a glow yoga theme as week 1 of my Yoga-versary month! I brought some glow sticks home and let Quinn play with them in his bath and he loved them! They’re so awesome for caring enough to plan that. I always have a great time in all my classes!

📸: Christina Maria Glover-Davis Sanchez 😉

Another byproduct of motherhood is “Mom brain” and I struggle to remember anything I don’t make a note of. However, Philip claims I told him some tip about not salting potatoes until after they’re boiling to avoid scratching our ceramic pans or something like that and I absolutely did not tell him that because I don’t know anything about what I just said. I’m not even sure if that was what I supposedly told him. I forget a lot of things now but made up cooking tips is not one of them 😂. 

Quinn turned 8 months on the 10th, which means I’m been exclusively pumping for that long, a pretty cool milestone. You know what’s not cool when you’re an exclusive pumper? Being super tired and needing to pump but deciding to just take a quick nap first and waking up to the power being off 🤬. The good thing is I have a manual pump (and a plug adaptor in my car if I really wanted to go that route). The bad thing is the electric came back on as soon as I had finished one side 🤬🤬. It could’ve been worse and I could’ve done both sides manually and really tested the endurance of my forearms I guess. That night really threw Quinn off though because it’s usually me who feeds him when he wakes up (because I have to pump anyway) but Philip had to feed him since I didn’t have any free hands. He was fussing and difficult and Philip told me he thought Quinn just wanted me. So I took a break to cuddle him and he calmed down and ate his bottle for his dad. Today he acted similarly and the Baby Center app mentioned that this may begin to happen but we’re just now starting to see that. He likes to play with Dad but wants Mom to sleep 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

The outtakes of 8 months 🤦🏻‍♀️😂. 

Speaking of pumping, I had a weird encounter with a stink bug that other night. I have never smelled one before. I was pumping and just scrolling Facebook when I got a whiff of a new smell. I didn’t know what it was but it seemed to be coming from my chest area. I thought maybe my pumping bra needed washed and I started pulling it up and sniffing it. My nose was within centimeters of a stupid stink bug before I saw it and realized that what was creating the smell. It has crawled up the tubes attached to my pump and connectors. While I didn’t like the thought that I was one good sniff away from sucking it up my nose, bugs don’t really freak me out so I just flicked it off and sanitized my stuff. I debated telling you all another story about a time that I actually sniffed something else (disgusting) up my nose but I think I’ll save that for another time 😂. (By the way, it’s a PG story, for the record 🤪)

An update on the girls:

Sansa has been taking notes from Soph and now backs her butt up on me 🤦🏻‍♀️.

Sophie is still Sophie 😡🤦🏻‍♀️. 

She does not like being on the outside of Quinn’s fence 😂. 

Sansa looks adorable with her ears flipped back 😍.

She’s a good big sister, always laying by the bassinet when Quinn is in it 🥰. And sometimes when Quinn isn’t in it just because she likes to take my spot 🙄. 

They’re such pretty girls 💜💜.

I can’t finish this post without commenting on what’s happening in the world right now. Covid-19 is looming and while WV doesn’t have any diagnosed cases, I don’t for one second think that’s because it’s not here. That last number I heard of the amount of tests done could be counted on both hands. Whether you think it’s a hoax (I hope not, it’s pretty evident at this point that it’s not), people are overreacting, you’re freaking out, or somewhere in between, we all have opinions and this is my blog so here’s mine: you may not be worried about catching this virus because it won’t kill you but it will kill others. Follow the recommendations from the CDC. If this all ends and it was a huge overreaction, good. That means lots of people didn’t die. If you make it through, make sure you know how many rolls of toiler paper you have so that you can tell your grandkids because apparently that’s what’s important 🙄. Stay safe!